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Yesterday evening I lost my Internet connection - not in itself a 1st world problem no
big deal.

However when I phoned the service status line the man said something along the lines
of "any problems will be added to the end of this message" then there was silence
then a lady said "thank you for calling" and the line went dead.

When service was restored - after about 1 hour in my case, and I looked at the online
service page

it explained that some customers had been experiencing problems for hours and they should

try switching off their routers for an hour.

a) Why wasn't this information relayed over the telephone ?

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Perhaps they are experiencing problems with the telephone system too?

b) What is the point of putting it on a website which by definition most users - those
using only one ISP - won't be able to access ?

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People seem to assume that everyone has more than one way to access
the Internet. I maintain this is not true for the "average" user.
For example there's virtually no mobile phone coverage here so 3G is
not a useful option for me.

I have used this more discreet method of contact rather than post this message on
Uk.telecom.broadband as I am happy overall with the service I receive on Plusnet
and don't feel its right for Plusnet representatives who answer those messages to
be put on the spot for decisions which they haven't personally made.

Indeed. Veiled threats don't appear to work when sending emails
to auto-responders.

michael adams

...

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What I think he meant was - why not put your post on Plusnet's own
customer service newsgroup (only available to Plusnet customers via
their own news server, news.plus.net)?
The appropriate newsgroup on that server is
plusnet.service.customer-feedback.
Or perhaps raise a question via Plusnet's website (Member Centre)?

People seem to assume that everyone has more than one way to access
the Internet. I maintain this is not true for the "average" user.
For example there's virtually no mobile phone coverage here so 3G is
not a useful option for me.

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I'm sure people would complain in their droves if we /didn't/ put
anything on our website

Whilst I could well be wrong, I reckon there's a significant percentage
of our customer-base that do have more than one way to access the Internet.

Smartphone take-up these days is probably > 50% of the population.

This is "uk.telecom.broadband" ;-)

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And I'm a Plusnet representative

To address your primary concern though, there *was* a message on the
phone system, there were just a few gremlins in the works last night.

What I think he meant was - why not put your post on Plusnet's own customer service
newsgroup (only available to Plusnet customers via their own news server,
news.plus.net)?
The appropriate newsgroup on that server is plusnet.service.customer-feedback.
Or perhaps raise a question via Plusnet's website (Member Centre)?

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My question was answered on here by Plusnet Support (Mr.Pullen) at 14.51

The first contribution by the Plusnet Support Team to the Service Status
Broadband Connectivity Thread UPDATE on plusnet.service.customer-feedback
was at 15.16.

While there were plenty of other contributors, on technical matters,
while the monkeys may be correct, I like to wait for the organ grinder.

Whilst I could well be wrong, I reckon there's a significant percentage of
our customer-base that do have more than one way to access the Internet.

Smartphone take-up these days is probably > 50% of the population.

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Yes, but what about people who have a smartphone that is capable of
connecting to the internet by some other means - but live in a rural area
which has no mobile reception. And what about people who have a mobile phone
but are not a tariff that gives internet access. In the old days I'd have
used dialup but most ISPs have turned off their modems and most modern
laptops don't have a modem.

I agree with the OP that of all the things you put on a recorded message on
a phone line, details about outages and the first thing to try (turn router
off and on, maybe for as long as an hour) is one of the most important.

Yes, but what about people who have a smartphone that is capable of connecting to the
internet by some other means - but live in a rural area which has no mobile reception.
And what about people who have a mobile phone but are not a tariff that gives internet
access. In the old days I'd have used dialup but most ISPs have turned off their modems
and most modern laptops don't have a modem.

I agree with the OP that of all the things you put on a recorded message on a phone
line, details about outages and the first thing to try (turn router off and on, maybe
for as long as an hour) is one of the most important.

Click to expand...

To be fair to Plusnet, their internal telephone system went belly-up at
exactly the wrong moment

Yes, but what about people who have a smartphone that is capable of connecting to the
internet by some other means - but live in a rural area which has no mobile reception.
And what about people who have a mobile phone but are not a tariff that gives internet
access. In the old days I'd have used dialup but most ISPs have turned off their modems
and most modern laptops don't have a modem.

I agree with the OP that of all the things you put on a recorded message on a phone
line, details about outages and the first thing to try (turn router off and on, maybe
for as long as an hour) is one of the most important.

Click to expand...

To be fair to Plusnet, their internal telephone system went belly-up at
exactly the wrong moment

The problem is finding a reliable PAYG dial-up provider.
As most of the mainstream ISPs no longer offer this
service.

There are a number accessible via Premium rate phone
numbers only a lot of them don't seem to work a lot
of the time. i.e. an access number might work when tried
first time, but second time it won't. So its then necessary
to try another one, with maybe the same result. And then
pages can take ages to load, all at ISTR maybe 10p or more
per minute.

The problem is finding a reliable PAYG dial-up provider.
As most of the mainstream ISPs no longer offer this
service.

There are a number accessible via Premium rate phone
numbers only a lot of them don't seem to work a lot
of the time. i.e. an access number might work when tried
first time, but second time it won't. So its then necessary
to try another one, with maybe the same result. And then
pages can take ages to load, all at ISTR maybe 10p or more
per minute.

Click to expand...

And of course, if you don't have your list of potential emergency
dial-up PAYG ISPs kept up to date, how are you going to find out who
they are and what their access number is when you have no internet?

And of course, if you don't have your list of potential emergency
dial-up PAYG ISPs kept up to date, how are you going to find out who
they are and what their access number is when you have no internet?

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Plusnet fails seldom enough - and then for no more than a few hours
at a time - to make the effort of faffing around digging out and
plugging in a router, and the entering lists of PAYG telephone numbers
to test whether they still work or not, on a regular basis, more
trouble than it's worth.

Plusnet fails seldom enough - and then for no more than a few hours
at a time - to make the effort of faffing around digging out and
plugging in a modem, and the entering lists of PAYG telephone numbers
to test whether they still work or not, on a regular basis, more
trouble than it's worth.

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